Research Articles: All posts by Scott Lanser MA

We are quickly moving toward that very special time of year when our hearts and minds are drawn to the mystery of the incarnation in that humble town of Bethlehem. After two thousand years we are still captivated at the drama of God breaking into history, Jesus cradled in Mary’s womb until the day appointed in the plan of the sovereign God of time and eternity.

Dear ABR Friends, Our fiscal year calendar closed on June 30th and we look back with deep appreciation for the Lord’s grace and sustaining power for the ministry of ABR. Your continuing faithfulness in giving, volunteering, and praying made 2013-14 a most extraordinary year...

Dear ABR Friends: Please allow me this opportunity to thank you for your prayers and support for the ministry of ABR! The 2013-2014 season of ministry has been one of the most extraordinary in ABR’s history. Our dig at Khirbet el-Maqatir has uncovered amazing evidence that supports our identification of the site as biblical Ai.

The holiday season is before us with all of its blessings and joys and with a little busyness and stress mixed in! We hope you will experience the peace and joy of Jesus in this season as you walk as an “overcomer” in the kingdom of God. It is so important to remember that amidst all the madness around us that our citizenship is in heaven, and that the testings and trials we must experience are only for a season. Let us draw every ounce of joy from the knowledge that Christ has come to this world to bring us life and freedom, and His peace that passes understanding. And may your family gatherings and shared family traditions fill you with the warmth and love from these treasured experiences together.

New Testament Scripture displays an important panorama of passages, some hortatory and some didactic, calling the believer in Christ to be a student of written revelation and to confront false teachers and false teaching whenever it is manifested in the church. Typically this is seen in the training of individuals who will stand in spiritual leadership in the local assembly of believers: Elders must "be able to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2); Teachers will "incur a stricter judgment" (James 3:1 NASB), as they stand as guides and shepherds to God's flock.

Dear Friend of ABR,
I write today with a mixture of emotions, reflecting on the events of September 11th, just over a decade ago when the United States was viciously attacked by terrorists connected with the militant islamist organization, Al Qaeda. It is hard to believe that 12 years have passed since those days of shock, sadness, courage, and resolve.

Dear Friends,
In just a few short weeks Associates for Biblical Research will be wrapping up its 2012-2013 fiscal year. It has been an exciting and challenging year, full of new opportunities and wonderful progress on important, ongoing projects and activities.

Often subjects discussed in the realm of archaeology can be investigated with little direct connection with the experiences of our present day. Whether that perception is true or not, it is a reality, and the study of the ancient past can often be very esoteric and compartmentalized to the modern mind. Not so concerning the subject of child sacrifice. The parallels to the modern day practice of abortion and the murder of innocent, defenseless babies is plain and unavoidable.

ABR Executive Director, Scott Lanser discusses some of the broader issues of worldview and postmodernism as it relates to the science of archaeology and the study of the Bible. Included is a brief discussion concerning the Exodus, David, Solomon, and the domestication of camels. Includes a Q&A session.

ABR Executive Director, Scott Lanser discusses some of the broader issues of worldview and postmodernism as it relates to the science of archaeology and the study of the Bible. Included is a brief discussion concerning the Exodus, David, Solomon, and the domestication of camels.

The Associates for Biblical Research is known for archaeological fieldwork and painstaking biblical research. The work produced by ABR is widely used by Bible students, archaeologists, professors and teachers, some of whom believe the Bible to be the Word of God and some who do not. The one thing everyone can count on from ABR is extensive and careful analysis of scientific and biblical evidence. This commitment to detailed scholarship is coupled with an equally important commitment to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. Indeed, ABR is devoted to upholding the reliability of the Bible and to communicating the evidence that affirms the historical accounts of Scripture. As we look to the future, ABR will continue its commitment to these all-important objectives.

Dear Friends,
It's hard to believe, but the Fall is upon us and ABR is gearing up for another season of digging at Khirbet el-Maqatir in our ongoing search for Joshua’s Ai. As a friend of ABR you have heard us speak of this important archaeological excavation and its impact on the world of biblical scholarship. But the impact of our dig at Maqatir is certainly not for scholars alone, but will impact all Christians, encouraging God’s people around the world.

Recently I had a most disturbing conversation with a young man who was attending a prestigious Christian liberal arts college. As we chatted, I expressed the value of being involved with ABR in our quest to uphold the authority of the Bible. I was chagrined by his less than enthusiastic response; he actually became slightly distressed, and glibly commented he was concerned about his reputation if he would join ABR, because it might negatively affect his scholarly pursuits.

As many of you will recall we sent out an urgent appeal just 2 weeks ago that ABR was in need of an additional $40,000 by June 30 so that all of our financial commitments could be met for this fiscal year...

I often take the spiritual pulse of my congregation and Christian colleagues and friends to help me gain a sense of the spiritual warfare being waged against believers in America. I add to that extensive reading on the sociological movements and philosophical perspectives in American culture and their impact on the Church of Jesus Christ. Trends emerge from these studies and conversations that occasionally encourage me but most often disappoint me. Fundamentally, American Christians are held in the cultural grips of post-modernism, with its openness to spiritual “things” but its resistance and distrust of anything that smacks of institutionalism. So the openness we see sometimes quickly closes when Jesus is brought into a conversation, since He is seen as part and parcel of the institution called “church.” Post-moderns are profoundly disappointed in how the institutions around them have let them down and ripped them off: Government, Schools, Parents, and the Church. They have seen and continue to watch played out in front of them how these institutions fail in their self-absorbed greed and lust for power and their patent abandonment of the responsibilities under their charge. Every day they see another husband abandon his wife and children, they see another church leader fall in scandal, they read of a teacher shamelessly abuse their position of trust to feed their own personal lusts and desires. Children growing up in America see decadence all around them; those telling them how to walk the path are compromising and abusing their God-entrusted roles of authority.

Dr. David Livingston has devoted his life to teaching the Word of God and upholding and defending the Bible. He has been an inspiration to laymen and scholars alike and to all those who love the Bible, the Word of the living God. As the founder and director of ABR, David was led of God to establish a ministry that would demonstrate the reliability of the Bible and provide an umbrella organization under which likeminded scholars could serve. His passion was fueled by the distortions of critics who declared that whole portions of Old Testament narratives were unhistorical...

In March of this year we were treated to yet another edition of information media’s relentless infatuation with reinterpreting and redefining the Bible with its insufferable post-modern spin. The Discovery Channel’s, Who Framed Jesus? was released just in time to throw a wet blanket on anyone who might actually believe the Bible’s account of the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion. Paraded before us was the predictable mixed bag of scholars and pseudo-scholars, who, in the typical fashion of those who have rejected the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible, offered their mush-minded opinions of what must have “really” been the cause of Jesus’ supposed “framing”...

The Bible is far more a history text than it is a science text, but I have never doubted that where it touched on science that is was factual…and again, true. And where it dealt with history, I understood that history to be factual…and thereby truthful...

The high point of the Christian calendar should be the Day of Resurrection. We have just now celebrated this day of days with our church families with songs and messages of the triumph over death and hell of our great Savior...

When I turn to the topic of archaeology, I often ponder the hows and whys of God's plan and use of tangible history in the form of artifacts, manuscripts, and other such things buried in the sand, hidden in ancient ruins, or tucked away in some secret cave...